[FfH II Art Team Blog]

the problem is that the game animations all move from the left side, and creating a new animation requires an extreme deal of work. Most of the units in game use the existing animations for units, and the axeman and swordsman both use right handed animations. Switching the model would cause sphener to hit with his bare hand, and guard with his sword
 
Still, I Sphener should get new graphics so as not to be confused with the ordinary Mercurian Angel. But he shouldn't change so much as to loose his resemblance to Madero (perhaps the simplest thing would be to just make these heroes bigger than the ordinary ones)
 
MagisterCultuum said:
Still, I Sphener should get new graphics so as not to be confused with the ordinary Mercurian Angel. But he shouldn't change so much as to loose his resemblance to Madero (perhaps the simplest thing would be to just make these heroes bigger than the ordinary ones)
Click to expand...

I have started to recreate that picture Kael holds in his hand, for Sphener. but i got stuck and sometimes work needs to rest for a while and i have to work on different things, so i can go back with more experience and more motivation. I still need to texture and tweak him.
So, dont fear, after the 4 Horsemen I will go back to Sphener. it will take time, because next to all this i still study chemistry, exercise sports and have to foster my social life too :) So, give me some time and expect something good :)
 
I know what you mean, transferring a 2D sketch into a 3D model is difficult, as much of the image gets left up to the imagination.
 
Since its so difficult to make the unit left-handed, why not flip the picture in the Civilopedia to make him right handed? However, making left-handed graphics might also be nice for the Sinister dark elves if you change you mind about recreating the animations.
 
MagisterCultuum said:
Since its so difficult to make the unit left-handed, why not flip the picture in the Civilopedia to make him right handed? However, making left-handed graphics might also be nice for the Sinister dark elves if you change you mind about recreating the animations.
Click to expand...

Our Art team lacks someone who likes doing Animation, so dont hope for anything like a left handed animation soon.
 
I ran into Jason Engle at origins today. Jason is the artist who made a ton of art we use in FfH, including Sphener, Abashi, etc etc. He is an amazing artist, and a very nice guy.

We chatted for quite a while about general art stuff and FfH. He is a video game player but he hasn't played Civ4 and he didn't know about FfH.
Click to expand...
I'd be happy to chip in to buy him a copy, especially if he might be inspired by FfH 2. ;)
 
Nikis-Knight said:
I'd be happy to chip in to buy him a copy, especially if he might be inspired by FfH 2. ;)
Click to expand...

Yes!!! send him one, with the newest version of FfH II on it :)
I am serious about this :) do it!!! come on!!!
 
Ploeperpengel said:
Well I think its just too much effort for such a little detail. It's not that I don't like animating but I'd prefer to do it for some real purpose;)
Click to expand...

Yea, i did not mean that we should do it for left handed animations... its just, that we have 5 official artists listed, but the only one who liked creating new animations has not showed up since last October

Anyway, if firaxis would release a tool which made Animating not so complicated, then we would see a lot more animations... i think :)

Would you like to create some animations for the Horsemen?
Or a flying animation for Angels like Sphener?
 
seZereth said:
Yea, i did not mean that we should do it for left handed animations... its just, that we have 5 official artists listed, but the only one who liked creating new animations has not showed up since last October

Anyway, if firaxis would release a tool which made Animating not so complicated, then we would see a lot more animations... i think :)

Would you like to create some animations for the Horsemen?
Or a flying animation for Angels like Sphener?
Click to expand...
Definitly for Sphener not so sure what you would need more than there is for horsemen though.
Atm I'm working on Warhammer again and got quite excited about playing with the SDK so artwork will have to wait a bit. I plan to have the valkry ready for 0.24 and might go for new artstuff afterwards but certainly not before;)
 
Ploeperpengel said:
Definitly for Sphener not so sure what you would need more than there is for horsemen though.
Atm I'm working on Warhammer again and got quite excited about playing with the SDK so artwork will have to wait a bit. I plan to have the valkry ready for 0.24 and might go for new artstuff afterwards but certainly not before;)
Click to expand...

fine, so will go with existing animations for 0.23 and you will have a look when you have time if you can provide us with new exciting animations afterwards ;)

Btw, was in the WHFB forum recently and i would love to see all those ideas posted there in a mod,... so go for it!!!! :)
And, you know, my list of stuff to create is long, but if you get WHFB to work i still owe you the skaven models :)
 
seZereth said:
fine, so will go with existing animations for 0.23 and you will have a look when you have time if you can provide us with new exciting animations afterwards ;)

Btw, was in the WHFB forum recently and i would love to see all those ideas posted there in a mod,... so go for it!!!! :)
And, you know, my list of stuff to create is long, but if you get WHFB to work i still owe you the skaven models :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I definitly want Skaven in. That would be wonderful! I'm working on it;)
 
i don't really imagine sphener flying, but the horsemen, i imagine flying through the air, half masked by a giant roiling black cloud with lightning flashing... how hard would that be to animate :mischief:
 
thomas.berubeg said:
i don't really imagine sphener flying, but the horsemen, i imagine flying through the air, half masked by a giant roiling black cloud with lightning flashing... how hard would that be to animate :mischief:
Click to expand...

Well it would be possible but I doubt it will look like you imagine - civ has really too few frames to make that kind of impressive effects during a runsequence. Anything idle/fidget can produce cool effects but if you want a horsemen flying during the runsequences it will just look like jumping(or stand in the air during idle - flying all the time)
I wanted to have Hyborem flying during moves but gave up on this. Sphener will have to be in the air all the time or not fly at all.
 
Left handed Warrior.
Animates all movements in exactly the mirror image of the original version.


Method:
Import into Blender
Select all faces
Mesh->Normal->Flip
Export to NIF
Load in Nifviewer
Apply rotation matrix:
-1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
To node Warrior_Body
Save file
Enjoy!

Issue:
The sun has changed location, it is now behind the unit. His front is shaded, his back it lit, when facing south; looks normal (front lit, back shaded; as in screenshot) when facing north.
This looks strange for a normal unit, but it could be a nice effect for an otherworldly or shadowy race.
 

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did the animation nodes also rotate properly? Sometimes in a multi-object scene flipping can cause some of the smaller objects to make bizzare movements...

But thats really neat, a left handed unit would make a great addition to the flavor of the game.
 
technically, the nodes didn't flip at all, just the unit meshs; but yes, it animated perfectly.
I did this test with a warrior because it was simple and uncomplicated. there may be issues with this method for more complicated units.
 
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